In Oakland, LGBT youth center destroyed by unexplained fire

OAKLAND, Calif. — Officials at an Oakland queer youth space are frantically trying to find a new location after the building they had been using was destroyed by a fire.

The fire broke out in the morning hours of July 8 and displaced a gem of Oakland’s queer community known as SMAAC (Sexual Minority Alliance of Alameda County), a nonprofit, multi-service safe space and youth center serving primarily LGBTQ youth of color. The blaze consumed the 50,000 square foot building the organization occupied in downtown Oakland at 1608 Webster Street.